Download Report

August 2003
Web Design with Dreamweaver
Macromedia Dreamweaver MX and Fireworks MX
This document describes how you can use Dreamweaver and Fireworks to develop Web sites quickly
and easily. You can create, edit, and optimize your graphics in Fireworks then import them into
Dreamweaver to layout pages, set up links, and manage your site. It was written for use in the Academic
Computing Web clusters.
Table of Contents
Overview.................................................................................................................................... 2
Before You Begin ...................................................................................................................... 2
About Dreamweaver.................................................................................................................. 4
Dreamweaver Interface ............................................................................................................. 5
Defining Your Site...................................................................................................................... 8
Creating A Web Page.............................................................................................................. 10
Page Layout with Tables ......................................................................................................... 13
Working with Graphics in Fireworks ........................................................................................ 14
Creating Graphics.................................................................................................................... 16
Working with Text and Alignment ............................................................................................ 18
Adding Effects ......................................................................................................................... 19
Saving Your Original................................................................................................................ 20
Optimizing Graphics for the Web............................................................................................. 21
Creating Navigation Buttons .................................................................................................... 22
Importing Fireworks HTML into Dreamweaver ........................................................................ 28
Adding Navigation Links .......................................................................................................... 31
Importing and Cleaning Up Word HTML.................................................................................. 32
Inserting Content ..................................................................................................................... 33
Inserting an Email Link ............................................................................................................ 34
Getting Your Site on the Web .................................................................................................. 34
For More Information and Assistance...................................................................................... 35
Stanford University Academic Computing
A division of Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources
© 2003 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
Overview
In this workshop, you will learn how to:
•
create a site map and storyboard;
•
define a site and manage files in Dreamweaver;
•
design, optimize and export images in Fireworks; and
•
build Web pages with tables, text, graphics and button rollovers.
Before You Begin
The first step in good Web design is planning. You need to consider who your audience is, what your
goals for the site are, and how you’ll create an effective layout and linking structure for your pages.
The best way to visualize how your site will be organized is to create a site map and storyboard. The site
map will be your guide to how the user will navigate between the pages. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 2
The storyboard will indicate how each page is laid out including where information and navigation
elements are located. (See Figure 2.) NOTE: It’s best to sketch several layouts on paper first before
launching Dreamweaver and Fireworks.
Figure 2
Web Design Tips
• Know Your Audience
Will visitors to your site have the latest equipment, newest browsers, and fast connections? Or will they
be looking at your pages on a 15-inch monitor over a 56K modem?
• Be Consistent
Establish a consistent “look and feel” for your site. Keep your navigation and logos in the same place on
all pages. Choose your colors carefully and use them to give visual cues to users to let them know where
they are in the site.
• Keep It Simple
Limit the number of links to 5 or 6 per page. The quickest way for a site visitor to get lost is to offer too
many choices. Make sure that the user can get to any page in your site within 3 clicks.
Of course, there is no “correct” way to organize a site, but give some thought to how you name folders
and files and to where you place them.
File Naming Conventions
•
•
•
No spaces in file names. (Use_underscores_instead.)
No upper-case letters.
No unusual characters (/, ‘, ., “, etc.).
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 3
Site Structure
In order for Dreamweaver to keep track of links between Web pages and dependent files (such as the
images used on the pages), it is necessary to define a folder on your hard disk as the local root folder and
to save all the files for your site in that folder. The local root folder should contain the HTML files for
your site as well as all images and any other assets you may eventually include on your pages (e.g.,
audio, video, Flash animations).
Before you “define” your new site in Dreamweaver, you will create a new folder and then move all of
your assets into that folder. Throughout this workshop you will be creating new graphics files that you
will add to the assets folder.
1. Double-click the User Space icon located on the desktop. Inside User Space, create a new
folder by going to File>New Folder and name it web_workshop. (Remember, use an
underscore, not a space in the name.) The web_workshop folder will be your local root
folder.
2. Now double-click the web_workshop folder, create another new folder inside and name it
assets. (See Figure 3.) This is where your images will be stored.
Figure 3
About Dreamweaver
Dreamweaver is a hypertext markup language (HTML) editor. Markup languages are sets of directions
that determine how a document will look on the World Wide Web (WWW). These directions are called
tags or markups.
Web browsers are software applications that interpret or “read” this mark-up language and display
documents accordingly. The most common browsers are Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.
Markup languages tell Web browsers how to display text, graphics, sound, movie, and animation files.
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 4
Dreamweaver is also known as a WYSIWYG (pronounced wiz - e - wig) editor. WYSIWYG stands for
“What You See Is What You Get”. It means you can change something in your document and
Dreamweaver will show you the result instantaneously. You don’t have to launch a browser to see the
changes.
Dreamweaver Interface
1. Launch Dreamweaver MX by going to the hard disk (in the upper left corner of the screen)
Acomp HD>Applications>Macromedia DreamweaverMX>Dreamweaver MX or by
clicking the Dreamweaver MX icon on the menu bar at the bottom of the screen.
NOTE: When you launch Dreamweaver, it automatically opens a new document.
The Dreamweaver interface is comprised of windows, palettes, inspectors, and menus. The miniature
floating windows used to adjust particular sets of properties are called palettes or inspectors. You will
use the following palettes and inspectors most often:
Document Window: The canvas on which you construct your page. (See Figure 4.)
Page Title
Tag Selector
Preview in Browser
Download Status
Figure 4
Tag Selector: A feature of the document window that enables you to select specific elements on your
page such as a table, a cell within a table or text within a cell in a table. (See Figure 4.)
Properties Inspector: Modifies properties of selected objects such as text, images, and tables. The
Properties Inspector is context-sensitive. It offers different parameters and options depending on what
object you have selected. It has an arrow in its lower-right corner, which expands the window to display
more options. (See Figure 5.)
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 5
Figure 5
Insert Palette: Displays short cut buttons for placing common items in your document. (See Figure 6.)
Insert Table
Insert Image
Insert Fireworks HTML
Figure 6
You can access all of Dreamweaver’s palettes, windows and launchers from the Window menu at the
top of the screen. Dreamweaver also provides function key shortcuts to every window. Check marks
appear next to palettes, windows, and launchers that are open on your computer screen. (See Figure 7.)
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 6
Figure 7
For example: To see Dreamweaver’s source code:
Press F10 to view HTML Source then try several of the function keys to see what windows
/inspectors/palettes they launch. To close the inspector, press the same function key that launched the
inspector.
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 7
Now that you’ve received an introduction to the interface and document window, go to File>Close or
click the close box in the upper left corner of the document window. You’ll be creating a file from
within Dreamweaver’s site window.
Defining Your Site
1. Go to Site>New Site and click the Advanced tab at the top of the window. Type Web
Design Workshop for the Site Name. Notice that you can have capital letters and spaces
here as the Site Name is used only inside Dreamweaver and not on the Web.
2. Now click the Browse for File icon to the far right of the Local Root Folder Field.
(See Figure 8.)
Macintosh Users:
Find the web_workshop folder; click once on it, and then click the Choose button.
Windows Users:
Find the web_workshop folder then double-click it and choose Select.
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 8
Browse
for File
Figure 8
3. Be sure that the Enable Cache box is checked, and then click OK. Look at Dreamweaver’s
Site Window, and you’ll notice that the folders you created earlier are now part of the site.
(See Figure 9.)
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 9
Figure 9
Creating a Web Page
1. Now that you have created a local root folder and defined a site, you are ready to create your
first page.
Macintosh Users:
With the key held down, click on the Site – Web Design Workshop folder icon inside
the right pane of the site window. When the menu pops up, choose New File. (See Figure
10.)
Windows Users:
Right click in the right-hand pane of the site window and choose New File. (See Figure 10.)
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 10
Figure 10
2. You will now see an file named untitled.html in the site window. With the filename
highlighted, type index.html.
NOTE: One file named index.html must be stored at the root level of your site. Most servers
“know” to open this page first. For this reason, the home page in your Web site should be
saved as index.html.
3. You now have an HTML file called index.html at the root level of your site. While in the site
window, double-click the index.html file to open it.
4. Click in the Title field and type Your Name. (See Figure 11.)
NOTE: Always manage your files and folders using the Dreamweaver site window. If you
create, rename, move or delete files and folders from the site window, Dreamweaver will
automatically update your site which will prevent broken links.
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 11
Page Title
Figure 11
NOTE: The page title is not a file name. It can have spaces, special characters and upper-case
letters. Text used in page titles is picked up by search engines and also appears in a user’s
browser when he or she bookmarks your site.
5. Go to File>Save. As a general rule, it’s a good idea to save your file after completing major
steps. Because browsers and Dreamweaver require quite a bit of memory, Dreamweaver may
occasionally lock up or freeze.
NOTE: If your computer locks up and you need to do a force quit on a Macintosh; hold down
the ,option and esc keys simultaneously. When the dialog box appears, select the
application that you want to quit and click the Force Quit button.
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 12
Page Layout with Tables
Tables were originally developed to insert data into Web pages. These days, Web designers use tables
for layout purposes by turning off table borders to make the table invisible. This allows the table to act
as a grid for page layout. You can put images and text into rows and columns of the table and the table
cells will hold the information in place. (See Figure 12.)
Fixed-Pixel versus Percentage-Based Tables
A percentage-based table will stretch or shrink to fit the width of the browser. Whenever a user resizes
his/her browser window, your layout will change! If you want to exercise more control over the way
your page displays, pixel-based tables are best.
Example of a Table
COLUMN
ROW
CELL
Figure 12
Now you’ll create a table for some text and a graphic on the home page.
1. If your Insert Palette is not displayed above the index page, go to Window>Insert. In the
Insert Palette click the Insert Table
icon. (See Figure 13.) The Insert Table dialog box
appears. Create 3 rows and 2 columns. Set the width at 700 pixels. Delete the border and
spacing by typing 0 in the Border, Cell spacing and Cell padding fields in the Properties
Inspector. Click OK.
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 13
NOTE: Cell Padding adds room inside the table cell, Cell Spacing adds to the border width
of a table.
Figure 13
2. To take a look at the code Dreamweaver created, highlight the table by holding your cursor
above the top, left cell until the cursor turns into a bold, downward pointing arrow. Then,
click, hold and drag to highlight all the table cells. By highlighting the table, Dreamweaver
highlights all the HTML code involved with the table in source view. Press F10 to bring up
the HTML Source Window. Look at all that code! Click in a blank area off the table to
deselect it. Close the HTML Source Window by pressing F10 again.
3. Go to File>Save to save your additions to your index.html page.
Now that you’ve set up your index page, launch Fireworks to create your graphics.
Working with Graphics in Fireworks
Fireworks is an image editor that allows you to create, edit, and optimize graphics for use on the Web.
The native file format for saving Fireworks graphics is .png but Fireworks also supports .psd
(Photoshop) files. Images need to be exported as either .gif or .jpg files before they can be used on the
Web.
GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. It is one of two file formats for putting graphics on your
Web pages. GIF files use the extension .gif. Use this format for images with only a few distinct colors
such as illustrations, cartoon, icons, buttons and text. GIFs support transparency and 8-bit color.
JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. Its file extension is .jpg. It does not support
transparency but it handles far more color information (24-bit) than GIFs. Files to save in this format
would be photographs or “realistic” artwork and other full-color or grayscale images with continuous
variations in color.
For more information, see the Academic Computing handout Graphic File Formats at a Glance in the
document racks in Meyer Library or on the Web at http://acomp.stanford.edu/acpubs.
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 14
1. Launch Fireworks MX by going to the hard disk (in the upper left corner of the screen)
Acomp HD>Applications>Macromedia Fireworks MX>Fireworks MX or by clicking the
Fireworks MX icon on the menu bar at the bottom of the screen.
2. Go to File>Open, and select quad.png from the Acomp HD>Tutorials>Web Design
folder.
3. Go to File>Export Preview and click the 4 Preview button. (See Figure 14.) Now click in
the second pane and select 70% on the quality setting pull down slider near the top of the left
panel, click in the third pane and select 60% then click the fourth pane and select 50%.
Experiment with different Quality percentages for the compression. You want to get the
highest image quality with smallest file size.
File Size
Quality
Setting
Figure 14
4 Preview
4. Choose the setting you think looks best then click Export…
5. Save the quad.jpg file in the assets folder inside of the web_workshop folder.
6. Close the original quad.png file. Don’t save the changes to the original.
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 15
Creating Graphics in Fireworks
You’ll now create a title bar for the top of your Web pages.
1. Go to File>New then choose the following settings: 700 pixels wide by 100 pixels high with
a resolution of 72 pixels per inch (PPI). (See Figure 15.) Click OK.
Figure 15
NOTE: Always choose 72 Pixels/Inch as the resolution for Web graphics. This is the optimal setting for
images designed for viewing on computer screens. Using a higher resolution would result in larger
images and bigger file sizes, which would increase the amount of time required for Web pages to load.
2. Under the View menu, check to see that the Rulers option is checked. If it is not checked, do
so now.
3. On the Fireworks tools palette, click the Rectangle Tool, under the Vector tools not the
marquee tool. (See Figure 16.) Then click and drag on the canvas to draw a rectangle that is
690 pixels wide by 65 high and press the return key. Go to Window>Info and check the
dimensions. If necessary, adjust the width and height dimensions by typing the numbers 690
into the Width box and 65 in the Height box in the Info window, then press return.
4. To color your rectangle, first make sure it is selected. To do this, use the Selection Tool (the
little black arrow at the top of the tools palette, under the Select tools) to click on the
rectangle. When it is selected, you’ll notice that it has blue handles at each corner that allow
you to resize the rectangle. (See Figure 16)
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 16
Selection Tool
Do not click
Marquee Tool.
Rectangle Tool
Text Tool
Fill Color
Figure 16
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 17
5. Now that the rectangle is selected, click on the Fill Color tool and the color palette will pop
up. (See Figure 17.) Click in the field and type in #990000 and press the return key. (See
Figure 18.)
Figure 17
NOTE: Colors are represented as 6-character hexadecimal values on the Web. The
Dreamweaver and Fireworks default color palettes consist of the 216 “Web safe” colors.
Web safe colors display correctly in browsers on both Macintosh and Windows machines.
Working with Text and Alignment
1. With your rectangle selected, click the Text Tool and then click on top of the rectangle. If
you can’t see a window open that allows you to change font properties, make sure that the
Window>Properties option is checked. This gives you a Property Inspector window that
allows you to change the properties of all objects in Fireworks. (See Figure 18.)
2. Click on the font pull down menu and select Trebuchet MS. Make sure that white is
selected in the color well, which is located to the left of the bold button. Choose 44 for the
font size and click B for bold. Now type your name in the rectangle and click on the Pointer
Tool to select the text box that contains your name.
Figure 18
3. To align the text so that it is in the center of the rectangle, both vertically and horizontally,
click on your name with the Pointer Tool then hold down the Shift key and click the
rectangle. This ensures that both items are selected. You’ll know you’ve got them both if
each object has a blue border and resizing handles. Now go to Modify>Align > Center
Vertical to center the text left to right inside the rectangle. With both objects still selected, go
to Modify>Align> Center Horizontal to center the text top to bottom.
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 18
Adding Effects
1. Now you’ll add some effects to the graphic. Make sure the rectangle is selected, and also
make sure that the Property Inspector is visible. If it is not visible, go to
Window>Properties , and make sure that the Property Inspector is checked. In the
Property Inspector, click on the + sign next to the word Effects to open the pull-down
menu, and select Bevel and Emboss>Inner Bevel. (See Figure 19.)
Figure 19
2. Change the Inner Bevel setting from 10 to 2, then press the return key. (See Figure 20.)
Figure 20
3. With the rectangle still selected, click on the Effects pull down menu and select Shadow and
Glow>Drop Shadow. Then press the return key. Notice that your graphic now has a
shadow underneath it. Leave the settings as they are. (See Figure 21.)
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 19
Figure 21
NOTE: If you’d like to adjust any effect settings later, select the object and look for the
Effect panel in the Property Inspector. To temporarily turn off an effect, click in its
check box to deselect it. To delete an effect, click on it then click the small minus sign on
the top of the Effect panel. (See Figure 22.)
Delete Effect
Disable/Enable Effect
Info/Edit Effect
Figure 22
The good news is that you never have to stick with the choices you make now. You will be saving two
versions of this graphic: the original, editable version, as a .png (Fireworks’ native file format), and a
.gif version, which you will optimize for use on and export to the Web.
Saving Your Original
1. Always trim the canvas to remove any unnecessary canvas space before saving your files. To
do this, simply select Modify>Canvas>Trim Canvas. Fireworks will automatically trim the
canvas to the smallest possible size without affecting your image.
NOTE: Trimming the canvas is important because it will help to create a smaller file. A
smaller file will load more quickly on a user’s browser.
2. Go to File>Save, select the web_workshop folder click Open, then click the New folder
button, name the folder originals and click Create. Now name your file titlebar.png and
click Save. Leave the file titlebar.png open to use in the next section, “Optimizing Graphics
for the Web.”
NOTE: The items in the originals folder are not going to be posted on your Web site.
However, it’s best to keep all of the files related to a site organized together. By storing
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 20
everything in the web_workshop folder, it will allow Fireworks and Dreamweaver to work
in a more integrated manner. This is something you will explore later in this workshop.
Optimizing Graphics for the Web
Optimizing graphics involves finding the right combination of fast download speed and image quality.
Fireworks provides many methods for creating Web-friendly graphics including trimming canvas size,
decreasing the number of colors in a .gif and setting compression for a .jpg image.
1. With the file titlebar.png open, go to File>Export Preview. Click the 4 Preview button so
you’ll be able to preview different optimization settings. (See Figure 23.)
Color Settings
Figure 23
2. Select Adaptive. Then compare file size and quality for settings of 64 colors, 32 colors, 16
colors and 8 colors by clicking in each pane in turn and selecting the specified color settings.
Notice how the drop shadow appears. Click the pane with the 64 color setting and click
Export.
3. Name your image titlebar.gif, select the web_workshop folder, double-click the assets
folder then click Save.
4. Save and close the original file titlebar.png
GIF Color Palettes
Adaptive - custom palette created from the actual colors in the document. Adaptive palettes most
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 21
often produce the highest quality image with the least file size.
Web Adaptive - adaptive palette in which colors that are close to Web safe colors are converted to
the closest Web safe color.
Web 216 - palette of the 216 colors common to both Windows and Macintosh computers. This
palette is often called a Web safe or browser-safe palette because it produces fairly consistent
results in various Web browsers on either platform when viewed on 8-bit monitors.
Exact - contains the exact colors used in the image. Only images containing 256 or fewer colors
may use the Exact palette. If the image contains more than 256 colors, the palette switches to
Adaptive.
Macintosh, Windows - each palette contains the 256 colors defined by the Windows or Macintosh
platform standards, respectively.
Grayscale - palette of 256 or fewer shades of gray. Choosing this palette converts the exported
image to grayscale.
Black and White - A two-color palette consisting only of black and white.
Uniform - mathematical palette based on RGB pixel values.
Custom - palette that has been modified or loaded from an external palette or a GIF file.
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 22
Creating Navigation Buttons
Make sure that you’re using your Fireworks MX application when performing this task. You will be
creating navigation buttons with a special feature called a rollover.
1. Go to File>New.
2. Enter a size of 300 pixels wide by 500 pixels high, a resolution of 72. Choose a White Canvas
Color. Click OK.
3. Select the Text Tool (A) from the tool palette, click somewhere on the screen to make the text
box appear. Now type Home, Resume, Portfolio, Contact. (See Figure 24.)NOTE:
Make sure to press the return key twice after typing each word, except the last. Use the
Property Inspector, to edit the style of your text, by selecting Windows>Properties. Select all
the text, Choose Tahoma, font size 24, click B for bold, then click the fill color (the button to
the left of the Bold button) and type in a value of #900000 and click on Fill Properties. (See
Figure 25 and 26)
Figure 24
4. Use the Property Inspector, to edit the style of your text, by selecting Windows>Properties.
Select all the text, Choose Tahoma, font size 24, click B for bold, then click the fill color (the
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 23
button to the left of the Bold button) and type in a value of #900000. (See Figure 25.) Click the
select tool to close the fill color options window.
5. Go to Select>SuperSelect.
6. The Effects palette will now appear in the Property Inspector. Click the +sign, select Shadow
and Glow >Drop Shadow. The settings should be 3 for distance and 2 for softness. (See Figure
26.) Click outside the effects box to close it.
Distance
Softness
Figure 25
7. Go to the Frames palette), click the pull down menu button at the top right of the palette, and
select Duplicate Frame. If you don’t see the palette, go to Window>Frames . (See Figure 26.)
Figure 26
8. At the Duplicate Frame dialog box, make sure that it indicates that 1 frame is being added, then
click OK.
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 24
9. Select all of the text to edit it.
10. In the Property Inspector, click the fill color, type #333333 and press the return key.
11. Click on Frame 1 in the frames palette window.
12. Click the Slice Tool on the tool palette then click and drag even slices around each of the words
on Frame 1. (See Figure 27) Make sure the slice is long enough to cover the longest word
(Portfolio).
Figure 27
13. Click on the Pointer Tool, then click one time on the Home slice.
14. The Property Inspector has now changed to an Object palette. Enter the Slice name, Link, and
Alt information as indicated in Figure 28 for the Home slice. Note: Don’t make any changes to
the information in the width height and x and y boxes on your own screen.
Figure 28
15. Click once on the Resume slice to select it. Then, enter the Slice name, Link, and Alt
information as indicated in Figure 29 for the Resume slice. Note: Don’t make any changes to the
information in the width height and x and y boxes on your own screen.
Figure 29
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 25
16. Click once on Portfolio to select it. Then, enter the Slice name, Link, and Alt information as
indicated in Figure 30 for the Portfolio slice. Note: Don’t make any changes to the information
in the width height and x and y boxes on your own screen.
Figure 30
17. Click once on the Contact slice to select it. Then, enter the Slice name, Link, and Alt
information as indicated in Figure 31 for the Contact slice. Note: Don’t make any changes to the
information in the width height and x and y boxes on your own screen.
Figure 31
18. Click once on the Home slice to select it.
19. Click on the point to file icon that appears on the homeslice when you select it, and hold
down the mouse button. When the icon turns to a fist, with the mouse button still held down,
drag completely off of the slice to the white space on the right and then back onto the slice until
you see a blue line. (See Figure 32.)
Figure 32
20. Click OK to Swap Image from Frame 2. (See Figure 33.)
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 26
Figure 33
21. Repeat steps 19-21 for the Resume, Portfolio and Contact slices.
22. Click onto the canvas, and then go to Modify>Canvas>Trim Canvas.
23. Then go to File>Export Preview, choose 32 colors, and click Export.
24. Name your file nav.htm. In the save dialog box, uncheck Include Areas without Slices, click to
select Put Images in Subfolder, browse for the assets folder, select Choose, then click Save.
(See Figure 34.)
Figure 34
25. Go to File>Save, name the file navbar.png and save it in the originals folder inside the
web_workshop folder. Close the file and quit Fireworks.
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 27
Importing Fireworks HTML into Dreamweaver
1. Launch Dreamweaver. Go to Site>Open Site and select Web Design Workshop. If this site
was already opened and running in the background while you were working in Fireworks,
you may need to “refresh” the site by clicking on the little circular arrow at the top-middle of
the site window.
2. Double-click the index.html file to open it
3. Now click in the top row of the table, and then click the <tr> in the tag selector down at the
bottom of the window. (The <tr> represents the Table Row and will select the entire first
row of the table.) (See Figure 35.)
Figure 35
4. With the row selected, then click the Merge cells icon in the Properties Inspector. (See
Figure 36.)
Merge Cells
Figure 36
5. Click in the newly merged top row, and then click on the Insert Image icon
on the
Common sub panel of the Insert panel and browse for the titlebar.gif in the assets folder.
(Choose Window>Insert if this panel is not visible at the top of the screen.)
6. Click in the Alt Field on the Properties Inspector and type your name. (See Figure 37.)
Alt Field
Figure 37
Center
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 28
NOTE: Spaces, special characters and upper-case letters are allowed in alt tags. Alt tags are
used to provide information about images. The alt tag text will be displayed if the user has
images turned off in the browser. Alt tags are also important for compliance with section 508
of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Alt tags are read aloud by screen reader software. An
accessibility extension for Dreamweaver can be found at
http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/accessibility
See also http://bobby.watchfire.com for ADA compliance requirements.
7.
Click the Center icon on the Properties Inspector. (See Figure 38.)
8. Click in the second cell in the middle row, click the Insert Image icon and select the
quad.jpg file. Click Choose.
9. Type Stanford University Quad in the Alt field.. Click the Center icon on the Properties
Inspector. Click the left arrow key to move to the left of the quag.jpg while remaining in the
same cell.
10. Click on Vert Default pop-up menu and choose Top for the Vert(ical) orientation for the
image and set the width to 120. (See Figure 38.) Then click in the left-most column where
the navigation bar will be inserted and select Top for the vertical orientation and 120 for the
width.
Figure 38
Vertical Orientation
NOTE: If the column on the left collapses, click the left arrow key on the keyboard to move
the cursor into the left column.
11. Now click the Insert Fireworks HTML icon
on the Common sub panel of the Insert
panel and browse for the nav.htm file in the web_workshop>assets folder. With the
navigation bar still selected go to the Align pull down menu on the Properties Inspector and
change it from Default to Left. (See Figure 39.)
Align
Left
Figure 39
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 29
12. Finally click the last cell on the bottom right, select the center icon
Inspector and type the © 2003 Your Name
on the Properties
To type the copyright symbol:
Mac Users - Hold down the option key +g
Windows Users - Hold down alt+0169
13. Now hold down the shift key and press return for a single-space effect (called a line break in
HTML) and type This page was last modified on.
14. With the cursor positioned exactly one space after the word “on” in your text, click on the
on the Common sub panel of the Insert panel Which should be displayed at
date icon
the top of your workspace. If not go to Windows>Insert. In the dialog box that appears,
select the date format you prefer, and then check the box that says Update Automatically on
Save. Checking this box will force Dreamweaver to change the date every time you save the
document. After clicking OK, notice that the current date appears in your text.
15. Select all of the text in the cell; choose Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif font and 2 for
the size.) Leave the horizontal orientation at Default. Set the Width at 639 and change the
vertical orientation to Top. (See Figure 40.)
Figure 40
NOTE: Browsers can only display the fonts that are available on the user’s machine. So it’s
best to use fonts that reside in the system such as Times, Arial or Helvetica. Verdana and
Georgia are fonts designed specifically to be read on screen so they’re always good choices.
If you’d like to use custom fonts, you may create your text in Fireworks and export it as a gif.
Also, your text will appear larger on Windows machines than it does on Macintosh systems.
In general, a font size of “2” for text in the body of the page is best for viewing on the Web.
Remember that users can configure their browsers to customize colors and font sizes.
16. Go to File>Save then press the F12 key to preview the page inyour internet browser. (See
Figure 41.) Click the close box in the upper left corner of the browser window.
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 30
Figure 41
Adding Navigation Links
Now that you’ve completed the index.html page, you’ll need to set up your other pages and create links
using your navigation bar. You’ll start by making placeholder files to establish your links.
1. Go to File>New then choose File>Save and name the file resume.html (remember lowercase and no special characters) and save it in the web_workshop folder. Repeat this process
to create and save your portfolio.html and contact.html placeholder pages.
2. Open the index.html file and click the Home button of your navigation bar to select it. Click
the Browse for File icon next to the Link field, select index.html in the web_workshop
folder and click Save. Enter Home in the Alt field. (See Figure 42.)
Figure 42
Alt Text
Browse for File
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 31
3. Repeat the steps to link the Resume, Portfolio and Contact pages to your navigation bar.
4. Now that all the elements of your page are set up, click on the quad.jpg image and press the
delete key on your keyboard.
5. Go to File>Save As and name the file resume.html. Click Replace in order to save over
your placeholder page. Repeat the steps by going to File>Save As and saving your
portfolio.html and contact.html files.
NOTE: This is an easy method for ensuring that your pages are consistent in look and feel. It
works well for small sites. If you have a large site and want more control over the content
and the ability to update pages quickly you should use templates. For more information go to
Help>Using Dreamweaver and check out the Templates section for more information.
Importing and Cleaning Up Word HTML
1. Go to File>Open. Then select word.htm file in the Acomp HD>Tutorials>Web Design
folder. (The file word.htm is a Web page generated from Microsoft Word.)
2. Notice the yellow icons. They represent Microsoft-specific tags. To eliminate the tags go to
Commands>Clean Up Word HTML. (See Figure 43.) When the dialog box appears,
uncheck the Clean up CSS box and click OK. (This will retain most of the Word file’s
Cascading Style Sheet formatting.) (See Figure 43.)
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 32
Figure 43
3. Now go to File>Open and select your resume.html file. Go to the cleaned up Word page,
and select Edit>Select All, then click on the text, drag it over to your resume.html file and
drop it in the right-hand column of the table.
4. Click File>Save and then press F12 to preview the page in the browser.
Inserting Content
1. Go to File>Open and select portfolio.html.
2. Click in the right hand column and type Web Sites then press return twice. Type
Presentations and press return twice, and type Projects then press return twice.
3. Select all of your text, choose Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans serif, size 2 and Bold and the
center icon
from the Properties Inspector.
4. Go to File>Save and save your changes.
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 33
Inserting an Email Link
1. Go to File>Open, select contact.html, click in the right-hand column select the center icon,
type School Address then press return twice, and type Office then press return
twice and type Email then press return once.
2. Select all of your text and choose Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans serif, size 2 and Bold
from the Properties Inspector.
3. In the Document Window, click under the word Email and type out your email address.
Highlight this address and go to the link section of the Properties Inspector Window. Type
mailto:youremailaddress. (See Figure 44.)
4. Go to File>Save and save your changes. Then close the file.
Figure 44
Getting Your Site on the Web
Every Stanford student with a valid SUNet ID receives Web space on the Leland servers. For
information about setting up your Leland space, go to
http://acomp.stanford.edu/acpubs/subjdocs.html#internet and select one of the Setting Up Your Web
Space documents (Mac or Windows.).
1. Once you’ve set up your Web space on Leland, simply go to the MacLeland icon on your
desktop and select Mount Home Folder. (See Figure 45.)
Figure 45
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 34
2. When the Home folder icon
appears on your desktop, double-click it.
3. Double-click the WWW folder to open it.
4. Now open your web_workshop folder, select all the files except for the originals and drag
them into the WWW folder.
5. If you go to http://www.stanford.edu/~yoursunetid, you should see your home page.
For More Information and Assistance
Ask a consultant for assistance at the Technology Services Desk on the second floor of Meyer Library or
send email to [email protected].
Web Design with Dreamweaver - 35